Wolfen by Alianne Donnelly Page B

it and cried.”
    “Was she the only one with you?”
    Sinna flinched. “No, umm, th-there was someone else. He
didn’t make it.”
    “This Gerry raised you.” It was a statement, not a question.
Sinna nodded to confirm. “Did she tell you anything about your origins?”
    Sinna tried to remember what Gerry had told her. It’d always
seemed so cryptic and secretive; she’d never answered a question straight, as
if she worried about telling her too much. “No, all she would say was that I
was special, untainted. And I had to stay hidden, or the Grays could corrupt
me.”
    Another shared look between the two of them. “She must have
thought you were inert.”
    Sinna frowned. “I heard that word before. What does it
mean?”
    Aiden scoffed. “Oh, this’ll be interesting.” And he made himself
comfortable for what she could only guess would be a very long story.
     

7: Aiden
     
    I feel like I’m the punch line of a bad joke.
    A Wolfen girl walks into a bar. “What will you have?”
    “A clue, please.”
    I’m looking at this girl, cute as a button with her curly
brown hair pulled back into a ponytail, wearing her own blood like a badge of
honor, and she has no idea. None!
    I don’t know whether I want to punch this Gerry person or
shake her hand. For all I know, she’s done the only thing she could to make
sure Sinna survived, given the information she had. Hell, if what Sinna’s
saying is true, then she’s the only Wolfen left in ‘Frisco, or anywhere nearby.
But the woman has done the girl no favors.
    Sinna’s absolutely clueless, and if I let her walk out of
this house the same way she walked in, even with an armed, overprotective
escort, she’s going to end up dead, or worse. This new world doesn’t suffer
fools.
    I feel sorry for the little bit. It’s a shitload to take
in all at once, and I’ve gotta be the one to dish it, since Bryce can’t be
bothered to say more than three words at a time. Great. I’m about to have the
“birds and bees” discussion with a baby sister. But hey, if li’l sis needs a
life lesson, she might as well get comfortable. Class is in session. Professor
Alpha presenting.
     
    ~
     
    “All right, first thing’s first,” Aiden said in all
seriousness. “I gotta know how smart you are. Can you read?”
    Bryce elbowed him—hard.
    “What? It’s a legitimate question!”
    Bryce elbowed him again.
    Aiden hit him back.
    “Yes,” Sinna said quickly, “I can read. And it was a
legitimate question.”
    “Thank you.” He shoved at Bryce to sit farther away. “Now,
do you know what DNA is?”
    She nodded.
    “Good, good,” he said, then in an aside to Bryce, added,
“Not the lost cause I was afraid of,” which earned him a half-snarl. For all of
his non-communication, people often forgot that Aiden’s younger brother used to
be the nice one. Before they beat it out of him. “Okay! You’re about to get a
lesson in how the world works.”
    Sinna blinked her big hazel eyes and nodded slowly, gaze
darting between them. “Oh-kay.”
    Not the most promising beginning, but at least she was
paying attention. “Do you wanna take notes?”
    “Aiden!” Bryce barked.
    “Okay, fine. I see this is going to be a tough crowd. Here
we go. It all started back in the day when scientists discovered DNA. It was
like giving a bored kid a brand new video game. They locked themselves in the
basement and spent the next few decades trying to beat each consecutive level.
Except, the basement was a top secret facility deep beneath the site of a
nuclear meltdown, and the game was ‘Bend or Break, the Nature’s Laws Edition.’”
    “I never played video games,” Sinna said.
    The breath Aiden had taken to launch into his story fizzled out
of him. He said “top secret facility” and “nuclear meltdown” and all she heard
was “video games”? He glared at her, and shook his head in disappointment.
    Sinna shrugged. “What?”
    Aiden forced a smile. “Moving on. Chernobyl den